Ep. 53 - Slender Man: When an Internet Myth Turned Deadly

In 2009, a faceless figure appeared in a pair of edited photographs posted to an online forum. Tall. Unnaturally thin. Always watching.

It was meant to be fiction.

But over time, the story of Slender Man spread across the internet—evolving through forums, videos, and shared belief into something far more unsettling.

And in 2014, that belief turned violent.

In Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls lured their best friend into the woods and stabbed her nineteen times… claiming they did it to prove their loyalty to Slender Man.

In this episode of Veil of Echoes, we explore the origins of Slender Man, how internet horror blurred the line between fiction and reality, and the chilling case that forced the world to confront the real-world consequences of belief.

🎧 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

•  The creation of Slender Man by Eric Knudsen
•  How online communities turned fiction into a living myth 
•  The influence of Marble Hornets and viral storytelling 
•  The 2014 Waukesha, Wisconsin stabbing involving Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weier, and survivor Payton Leutner
•  The psychological and legal aftermath of the case 
•  The disturbing power of belief in the digital age 

⚠️ Content Warning:

This episode contains discussions of violence involving minors. Listener discretion is advised.

⭐ Support the Show:

If you enjoy immersive true crime and paranormal storytelling, follow Veil of Echoes and leave a 5-star rating or review—it helps us reach more listeners.

📱 Follow Us:

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook: @veilofechospodcast

🔎 Sources:

•  FBI Records & Case Summaries 
•  Court documents from the Waukesha County case 
•  Interviews and reporting from ABC News, CNN, and BBC News
•  Coverage by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
•  Criminal complaints and psychological evaluations 
•  Original Slender Man posts by Eric Knudsen
•  Archival content and analysis of Marble Hornets

✨ Step through the veil with us…

🔮 Follow on TikTok & Instagram: @VeilOfEchoesPodcast

👻 Share your stories: VeilOfEchoesPodcast@gmail.com

🕯️ New episodes drop every Monday (True Crime) & Friday (Paranormal) — where true crime meets the supernatural.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Beneath the ordinary world lies a veil, and behind it the voices of the lost still whisper.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

We are your guides into the shadows, where true crime meets the paranormal.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

From chilling crimes to haunted histories, we uncover the stories that refuse to rest. This is the Ale of Echoes. It started as a story. Just pixels on a screen. A faceless figure standing just beyond the trees. Tall. Unnaturally thin. Wrong.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

No face, no eyes, no mouth.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Just watching.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

And they said if you saw him, admit he had already been watching you for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Photos began to surface. Children standing in playgrounds with something tall in the background. Something that didn't belong.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Story spread. Forums, chat rooms, late nights, on glowing screens.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

And then people started to believe. They said he could control your thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Cause paranoia.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Make you do things you normally wouldn't do. And in 2014, two 12-year-old girls walked their best friend into the woods and stabbed her.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

19 times.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

They said they did it.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

This is episode 53.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Welcome to Vale of Echoes, where the darkest crimes and the unexplained are told through immersive cinematic storytelling. We're your host, I'm Lindsay.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I'm Zach.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

And I'm Bria. Before we begin, this episode contains disturbing content involving violence and minors. Listener discretion is advised.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

If you enjoy immersive true crime and paranormal storytelling, make sure you're following Veil of Echoes on your favorite podcast platform.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Leaving a rating or review helps our stories reach more listeners, and we are truly appreciated your support.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Yes, please, please, please, please, please leave us a review. You can also follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for teaser clips, tarot style episode posts, and behind the scenes content. Slenderman wasn't discovered in the woods. He wasn't pulled from ancient folklore or passed down through generations. He was created. In 2009, on an internet forum.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

The challenge was simple. Create an image that looked paranormal but real.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

That user was Eric Knudsen, known online as Victor Serge.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

He posted two black and white photos. Children playing, ordinary scenes, but in the background, something stood behind them.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

A tall figure. Limbs stretched unnaturally long. Wearing what looked like a dark suit.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

And where a face should have been, but there was nothing. Just empty space.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

The images came with captions. Short, vague, but unsettling.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Descriptions of children disappearing, a figure seen just before something went wrong, of something watching. And that's all it took.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Because the internet didn't just see the images, it believed them.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

People began sharing the photos, reposting them, adding their own stories, expanding the myth.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

New images appeared. More sightings, more details.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

The figure became something more, not just a character, but a presence.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

Something that could follow you. Something that could influence you. And something that might already be watching. So when you look at something online, especially something unsettling like this, how easy is it to separate fiction from something that feels real?

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Well, unfortunately for me, I always have it in my head that not everything you see on the internet's real. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Especially with the AI out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

The adventure in me, I want to believe it's all real because I'd like to have the well, some of the experiences I'd like to have. Like, none of the demon hauntings and bullshit like that, but I want to see some of the cryptids and be like, oh shit, I saw it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

Creepy pasta stories are terrifying.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

They're so cool though. That's the best part, you know? Like that's that's one thing like this came across that blew it up so big. Oh yeah. A creepypasta story.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

I didn't know it surfaced in 2009.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

That's why I I thought you we should do that other suggestion you said and do like uh do an episode over people's original horror stories or paranormal stories, you know. Yes. Either our own or listeners, you know, just give 'em a shout out and give 'em a shot and then read it.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Yeah, like we need to start doing stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

I mean, because the Christmas Carol, that one was fun. I liked it. I think we should do something more that shows a little more character. Yes. I think we should still write that one simultaneously from like the investigator and the journalist.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

Oh yeah. At first, Slender Man was just an image, a concept, something created for a contest and meant to end there.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

But the internet doesn't let things end. It builds, it spreads.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

And in the shadows of forums and message boards, people started adding to the story.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

New photos appeared, edited, distorted, children standing alone, with something tall just behind them, but closer than before.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Stories followed. Accounts of sightings, encounters, people claiming they had seen him just outside their window.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

But uh Always at a distance and always watching. And always getting closer.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Then came video. A YouTube series called Marble Hornets.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

It was filmed like found footage, unsteady camera, missing time, gaps in memory.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

A man documenting something he couldn't explain. A presence that followed him, watched him, but changed him.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Viewers weren't sure what they were watching. A story or something real.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

And that uncertainty is what made it dangerous. Because the more people watched, the more they believed.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

The myth evolved. Slender Man wasn't just a figure anymore. He became something with rules, patterns, and behavior.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

They said he could cause paranoia, memory loss, nightmares.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

And they said prolonged exposure would make you sick, that he could influence your thoughts and control your actions.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Make you do things you wouldn't normally do.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

And for most people, it stayed where it belonged. On screens and stories.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

But for some, the line between fiction and reality began to disappear.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And when belief crosses that line, uh it stops being a story.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

And starts becoming something else.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

So when something online feels real, and when enough people believe it, at what point does it stop being fiction?

SPEAKER_03 9:08

You know, I f it kind of brings me back to like I children will believe anything, because when I was little I believed the 100% that Bloody Mary was real.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Oh yeah. Who didn't when they were a kid?

SPEAKER_03 9:19

So I'm like, that's I feel like that's why this he was made to stop children because that's who Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Well, believing without seeing is something kind of bred into the like Santa Claus, you know. That's I mean every everything out there just about these are all myths. That's why they're called cryptids, because they have theories and ideas, but they have very little proof. And yeah, it's great. I mean it's creepy to think that somewhere out there you're just walking along and there's some fucking tall, skinny, no-face creature watching. Yeah. The worst part is there's no face, so you can't really tell what he's thinking. No. No expression. I don't know when it at the point it stops becoming fiction, is like, as long as someone believes in it, yeah. It'll always be real. Like it doesn't have to be a physical anomaly.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Right. Well, just kind of like if you think about it, all these um folklore creatures like the Wendigo, the vampire, or Bigfoot, or you know, like it's kinda like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

And some of them, I mean, based on the area of the story, changes the creature. A lot of them are very similar to each other, and small things separate 'em.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Like a lot of them have the same rules, just a different look.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Like vampires. How many different breeds and stories are there of vampires?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Oh good god. From this tall to fucking nine foot tall with To you show your skin in the sun, you turn to ash, to you sparkle.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah, to be in they have to be invited in, to be in they can do whatever they want, to you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

There's just so many depictions of them that I feel the same for Slender Man. Like, he could have been something else. Like maybe he did have a face, but at the point he was standing in, the shadow was so dark, it just looked like a figure in a suit.

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Cause I'm still on a strong belief that most of this stuff comes from somewhere. It could have been a bad trip, could have been m something messing with your head, but I don't think that a lot of these they didn't just sit down and boom boom boom. Like Slender Man is an original piece, but he's based off of something else.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

Yeah. May 31st, 2014. Walkesha, Wisconsin. Three twelve-year-old girls, close friends, classmates.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weir, and their friend Peyton Lucener.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

The girls had just celebrated Morgan's birthday the night before. Sleepover, movies. The normal.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

But behind that normal night, there was already a plan in place.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Morgan and Anisa had been talking about Slender Man for months. Reading stories. Watching videos. Consuming everything they could find.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

They believed he was real. Not as a character, not as fiction, but as something that existed.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

They believed he lived in a mansion deep in the Nicolette National Forest.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

And they believed the only way to prove their loyalty to him was to kill.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

The plan was to lure Peyton into the woods. Kill her and then walk into the forest to find Slender Man.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

They believed this would protect their families. Now if they didn't do it, Slender Man would harm them.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

So they're having a little bit of psychosis going on.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Just a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

That morning, the three girls walked to a nearby park.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

They played hide and seek. Acted normal.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

But eventually they led Peyton into a wooded area. They told her to lie down.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Then Morgan climbed on top of her and pinned her down.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

And began stabbing her.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Once, twice, again.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Nineteen times.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

The injuries were severe. Multiple stab wounds to her arms, legs, and torso.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

One wound came with millimeters of a major artery. Another narrowly missed her heart.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

After the attack, Morgan and Anissa left her there, bleeding alone.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

They believed she would die. But she did it.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Peyton Lutner crawled out of the woods, but gravely injured, but searching for help.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

A passing cyclist found her lying on the side of the road, barely alive.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

I hate these bitches. Like really idiots. She was rushed to the hospital, and against all odds, she survived.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Meanwhile, Morgan and Anissa kept walking.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

They were found later that day near Interstate 94, still carrying the weapon. You fucking serious?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

Dumb. I told you they're dumb bitches. Buddy knife. Idiots. My god. When police asked them why they did it, their answer was chilling.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

They did it to prove themselves to Slender Man.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

So how does something that started as a story online become real enough for someone to kill?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

The more attention you put to it. Oh yeah. That right there. Exact.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

And these girls were already psychotic.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Like, I mean they had underlined mental health issues that really didn't be.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Oh, let's use this as an excuse.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

And there's nothing wrong with loving things and liking to pretend and doing your cosplay, but this is beyond the point of acting something out. You tried to kill someone to meet a mystical being. A made-up figure, not even a mystical being. Straight just imaginary created for fun. Yeah. And you were gonna murder somebody. What would you kill somebody to meet Elmo?

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Oh, I bet you they would. Somebody probably would, but just Well, it's kinda like people sacrificing people. Oh, if I sacrifice you, then I'll get this or stupid things.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

I don't know. That goes up against most of the beliefs of what you're sacrificing it for. Yeah. Insanity.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Like, it's just that and the fact of them walking down the highway with the knife still in their hand. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Still carrying it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

But you gotta remember, these are 12-year-old kids. Twelve-year-old kids that I would have loved to have punched in the fucking mouth.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

It's like what the hell is going on in your head that you're like, And what the fuck did their parents do to them to fuck them up like that? That much. That much at they're only twelve years old, like you haven't even had a chance to do anything yet.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Just like those two kids recently that planned to murder somebody and they laughed about it in the back of a cop car. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where the f what the fuck did your your parents teach you?

SPEAKER_00 16:59

And the only thing they're worried about is if they're going to the same jail.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Are you fucking kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 17:04

No. And you know what's gonna happen when you go into that jail? You're gonna get your asses fucking handed to you every single fucking day. Which you deserve.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yeah, because you'd planned on killing somebody just because. Like what the f Why? Yeah. What the fuck's the point? It's like that one kid, his mom and dad, as soon as they found that severed head and hands, they called the cops, but that dude was just too chill about everything. I'm like, I wanted to hear it.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

I mean, like a human head and hands. What the fuck, bro?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Was he still 17 or he just? No, he was twenty-one. He was twenty one. Yeah. I was about to say, because they talked, I guess that was his college friends, because they said something about his school friends, and I was like, man, you look pretty young.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

He was twenty-one.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, but that was I mean fucking psycho-casting.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Cause most of the stuff we go over happened before I was born. Not very many things recovered happened in my lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Those are the killings though that bother me the most.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Like the people that just don't give a fuck that admit to it like it.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

They just kind of are like, oh yeah, I just people you gotta watch out for. Yeah, because I was like, Well, and like Ed Gean finally figuring out, you know, the biggest contributor to his problems was schizophrenia. It's like that's a different story. Back then you didn't have the knowledge. You you didn't have you didn't know what mental health was back then. There's no excuse for it nowadays, though. Yeah. But nowadays there's way, way more research into the mental health, and these kids should have had their mental health checked.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

I'd like to major in psychology.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

I did.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Well, especially since we're in this line. This line, it would help.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Being able to talk to these guys a little better.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yeah. When police located Morgan and Anissa, they didn't run, they didn't resist, they were calm.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Almost eerily calm.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

During questioning, both girls spoke openly about what they had done.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

They explained the plan in detail, how long they had been thinking about it, how they chose the location, and how they decided when to act.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

At one point, Morgan told investigators she felt no remorse that she believed the act was necessary.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

She said it was necessary to appease Slender Man. I wanna know what these uh investigators were thinking. They're probably like, bitch, you're fuck why am I even fucking talking to you right now? You just need to be in a padded cell somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

One of them had to be there with their mouth open, just got the jewel coming down. I mean, those are the ones I mean, it's gonna be hard not to smack somebody.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

So in other words, I think wasn't was Morgan the psychopath, the ringleader of the city.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

She seems like it. She seems like she was pushing for.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Wasn't she also the one that recently was it her?

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Girls are nothing. A girl survived in everything. She's 23 now.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Yeah. Um. After several years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, she was granted a conditional release to a group home in late 2025 before she escaped. That's what it was. She escaped it.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah, she's one of those people that's probably needing to be locked up for life because she don't feel remorse, so nothing she says is believable.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

She removed her ankle monitoring bracelet the night of November 22nd and fled from the group home. She was I'm sorry, I saw a picture of her again. She was arrested at a truck stop. She was arrested at a ch a re-r she was arrested at a truck stop in a Chicago suburb one day later and was later extradited back to Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, it was what, only twelve years ago? Ew, is that her again? She looks like the brother from uh Hannah, Montana. Oh god. What's his name?

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Jason Earl or something Jackson was his name. Or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, yeah, she escaped.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

She slipped off her ankle monitor. That's a funny sentence. I've heard that so much in my life, though, it doesn't faze me. Yeah. Like ankle monitor. I thought that was just a decorative piece.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

Anissa, on the other hand, appeared more hesitant, more unsure, but still fully believed the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Both girls claim still. Slenderman was real. That he could read their thoughts, control their minds, and harm their families if they didn't comply.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

To them, this wasn't a game. It wasn't pretend. It was real.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

As the case moved forward, psychological evaluations revealed deeper issues.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Morgan Geyser was diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

A severe mental illness that can involve hallucinations, delusions, and a distorted sense of reality.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Her father had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia, which increased her risk significantly.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Experts determined Morgan generally believed Slenderman existed, and that killing Peyton was necessary. A condition where one person adopts the delusions of another.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

In this case, Anissa adopted Morgan's belief system, including the existence of Slenderman.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Both girls were initially charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

A charge that carries a maximum sentence of 65 years.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

But due to their ages and mental health findings, the cases took a different path.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

She pled guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime on the grounds of mental illness. That's so wild.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

She still has to have consequences, I'm sorry. Like, not just sent away somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Well, regardless, if they send them to prison or a mental institution, it should be like a lifetime thing.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Yep. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

You did this.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Like, if you're that mental where you take it up on killing someone, you don't need to see the outside. Like, you need to have be watched and supervised at all times. She was committed to a psychiatric institution for up to 40 years.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Both sentences focus less on punishment and more on treatment. Which is bullshit. I don't care who you are. I don't care if mental illness plays a part in it at all. You knew you did wrong. You knew you picked up that knife and you stabbed somebody. You planned it.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

19 times.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

There's an issue.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

And then right there. At twelve years old, they planned it. They decided the location. They decided who. They decided when.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Mentally fit enough to do all that. If they know that much, then there shouldn't be let's play this mental game. Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yeah, there's you cannot focus treatments beyond as adults.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Yeah. Because you have fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Especially since neither one of you are showing remorse, and one of you is uh saying that you only fed off the other one's energy and you pretty much did it because they were doing it. Like, no, you still chose to do it.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Right. In the years since, both cases have continued to evolve.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Initial was granted conditional release in 2021 after being deemed no longer a threat to public.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Morgan Geyser has made multiple attempts for release, but as of recent rulings, remains in a mental health facility. Good.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

And through it all, one fact remains unchanged.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

That was just the baby bourbon.

unknown 26:05

That's fine.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

And through it all, one fact remains unchanged. They believed it was real. After the attack, the story of Slender Man didn't disappear.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

It spread even further.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

News outlets across the country covered the case. Not just as a crime, but as something harder to define.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

A fictional character linked to real-world violence.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Parents began asking questions about what their children were watching, reading, believing.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Schools issued warnings, online forums were scrutinized.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

And for the first time, something born entirely on the internet was being treated like a real-world threat.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

About how easily stories can spread and evolve.

SPEAKER_03 27:07

And how quickly fiction can begin to feel real.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

In the years that followed, Slender Man remained a cultural figure.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Even a major studio film, Slender Man, though it faced backlash, especially from the victim's family.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

For them, this wasn't fiction.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

What makes this case unsettling isn't just what happened.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

It's why it happened. Because Slender Man doesn't exist. But belief does.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

The human mind is powerful. Especially at a young age.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

When imagination, fear, and influence all collide.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

And when that belief is reinforced again and again through stories, images, and communities.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

It stops feeling like fiction.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

And starts feeling like truth.

SPEAKER_03 28:11

Slenderman was never found in the woods.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

He was never proven to exist.

SPEAKER_02 28:18

But something did exist.

SPEAKER_03 28:20

An idea.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

A story.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

A belief strong enough to turn imagination into something real. So do you think stories like this are harmless, or do they carry more power than we realize?

SPEAKER_03 28:35

That.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

They definitely carry more power than we are.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Especially well, people like these two teenagers taking it to the extreme.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Anything else. It was always created for fun, not for harm. Just like Scream. That movie was created just for a gory horror movie. Entertainment. Well, I wouldn't call it entertainment.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

Well, it is, though.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

It another thing that was just truly fictionalized, that people took cred or took ideas from and made into a real life situation.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

This is another thing. Born on the internet, got its popularity. These two girls believed it, maybe because of their mental disabilities, but they took it to the advantage there and tried to kill somebody.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Luckily the girl survived, but yeah, there shouldn't be an option. It should just be life. I don't care if it's prison or a mental institute mental institution. I can't say that one. But they don't they don't deserve to be free. They need supervision because no remorse.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Well, people like that. I mean, she could they could do it again. Yep, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

And they're still at twenty-something years old, still 12 years later, showing no remorse for what they've done. No. So it's obvious that they don't care, so why should anybody else? Like. But yeah, it's just disappointing because that was your friend. That's somebody you guys are just hanging out with. She thought you guys were there having a good time, planned on having a good weekend. That's awful. Now she probably doesn't trust anybody. She doesn't go and she probably hasn't hung out with anybody in twelve years.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Like the Skylar niece.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah, like how could you trust anybody again? It's hard after that.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

Like she lost her life.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Two people I thought were my best friends stabbed me 19 times because of a fictional figure they were trying to impress. I'd be pissed too.

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Yep. And that concludes this episode of Veil of Echoes. If you enjoyed tonight's episode, please make sure you're following Veil of Echoes on your favorite podcast platform. Leaving a review, our rating helps our stories reach more listeners, and we truly appreciate your support.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

You can also follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for teaser clips, tarot style episode posts, and behind the scenes content. On Monday, we begin a three-part series on one of the most notorious killers in American history.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

A man who didn't look like a monster and who didn't act like one. Charming, educated, trusted.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

He approached his victims in broad daylight. Spoke calmly, gained their trust before they ever realized the danger.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

College campuses, parking lots, quiet neighborhoods. And then they were gone.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

For years he moved undetected.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Leaving behind a trail of disappearances that no one could connect. Until it was too late.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Because behind the charm behind the smile was Ted Bundy.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Until next time, keep your ears open.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

And the veil closed.